What Causes Ph to Drop?

polishfalcon420

polishfalcon420

Well-Known Member
so basically it is kinda what I am thinking is going on. the plants arent eating that much nitrogen at this stage of growth any more and the loss of p and mg and maybe something else causes the balanced ratio to become unbalanced and acidic. ok now what is a logical way to deal with this assuming that this is due to normal consumption of nutes by the plant. should I just use less base and more pk booster when I mix or mix the same and just use ph up for a couple of days until its time to change the res out. the guy at the dro store told me he recommends using calmag even with my tap water and that the extra amount of mag Im supplying will keep the imbalance from happening so soon as the plants will be able to consume more mag before it drops far enough for the solution to become unstable. he claims that mj uses more mg than a lot of people think. it made sense but this is the guy trying to sell me a product too, but he does seem like a pretty honest kinda guy. he also stated that he feels you should try not to use ph up in the solution if you been using the down to lower ph saying that it basically causes inbalance issues on its own. now that I didnt quite understand.
 
maps84

maps84

Well-Known Member
I was using Calmag in every feed when I used the crappy rotten RO filter from HTG, but I switched to tap and adding calmag burned my plants. If I were to add it again I'd use it at 1/4 strength. Luckily my tap is around 150 ppm @ 6.5. Just sweet
 
polishfalcon420

polishfalcon420

Well-Known Member
my taps right at 150ppm. I just started to dabble in the ro world using AN's sensi line and so far Im not very happy with it at all but Its probably cause its my first time using their line and I dont have it figured out quite yet.
 
maps84

maps84

Well-Known Member
It's kinda funny my AN bottles are just sitting in a box collecting dust, they mega sucked !! and I was so exited, felt such a n00b ass :(

I'm currently trying Botanicare's line btw Liquid Karma is great! the difference in root mass was immediate, I hate the tint it gives them though.. I'm Also using a little of calmag as indicated by leafs, yah .. I'm the leave's bitch... aren't we all?
 
polishfalcon420

polishfalcon420

Well-Known Member
ya know when I bought the sensi AB combo with the voodoo b52 big bud and overdrive I was like you say excited. now this was sold to me stating that I didnt need the calmag cause they made a superior product. well guess what you need calmag with it. and really these have to be some of the shittiest plants Ive ever grown. its pretty sad when you compare my trainwrecks grown with the gh line to the bubbakush on the AN crap. now like I say it may be me not knowing the perfect mix but Im def not a retard either. you know Ive been at it a few years now and by no means am I a master but the one thing I keep doing is trying to get better at actually reading the plant. like with the red fan leave stems and petioles is it n or p or k def or is it strain related? big plant has this issue small plant is just starting to show signs of the redness.
 
polishfalcon420

polishfalcon420

Well-Known Member
Im gonna give it a couple more runs cause I have enough to do so but if I cant get it dialed in by then I dont think Ill be buying any more. not with the results I get with such a basic program as the nova.
 
maps84

maps84

Well-Known Member
I don't mean nor like to bash a nute company. It just didn't work for me in any way and there're several complaints of people using AN that are having nasty PH issues, burns, defs and incompatibly with other brand products, so you end up buying all their crapp as I almost did to make it work somehow! and while I'm aware there're too many variables that could lead to PH issues, this specific brand was the worst out of all I've tried in that matter. Again, not trying to bash them but certainly the "paying for comfort" modem doesn't apply at all to this brand in my recent experience.
 
My420

My420

Active Member
masp84 said:
Sorry I wasn't clear enough. And yes they have defenses for even that! what I meant was that If the nute component absorbed are more akaline than acidic the solution PH will go down and vice versa, as the nutrient salts gets more concentrated within the solution in unbalanced ratios.

PH rises because most elements require a slightly lower PH than 6 to be available. There are only 2 elements that need a higher pH which are Mg and P. Both are required enormously by MJ plants but not nearly as much as N and K which both lower the PH. So your plants should eat the N and K, rising PH slightly as the more alkaline elements will still be present in the solution so the opposite is true. In hydro when I see constant PH lowering is usually because bad bacterial growth or Salt build up in the root zones.
Click to expand...
Ah sorry I misunderstood ya thanks for helping me understand.
 
mr.smileyface

mr.smileyface

Well-Known Member
polishfalcon420 said:
ya know when I bought the sensi AB combo with the voodoo b52 big bud and overdrive I was like you say excited. now this was sold to me stating that I didnt need the calmag cause they made a superior product. well guess what you need calmag with it. and really these have to be some of the shittiest plants Ive ever grown. its pretty sad when you compare my trainwrecks grown with the gh line to the bubbakush on the AN crap. now like I say it may be me not knowing the perfect mix but Im def not a retard either. you know Ive been at it a few years now and by no means am I a master but the one thing I keep doing is trying to get better at actually reading the plant. like with the red fan leave stems and petioles is it n or p or k def or is it strain related? big plant has this issue small plant is just starting to show signs of the redness.
Click to expand...
AN three part is way better than GH's I use GH three part in veg because its weak. And i bought a set of the 6 gallons a while back.
voodoo and b52 are the best additives in this game. I havent tried sensi bloom a-b. I have tried connoisseur and its to pricey for me. Im gonna stick with GMB b52 and voodoo. Thats already 500 bucks in the bottles i buy. The GMB last a long time but the voodoo is gone in one go and the b52 last a few cycles.
Why would u add PH down? If the nutes bring your ph low.
Here is my awnser to you. When your ph drops that low add ph adjusted water. Dont add ph down. I bought it and havent used it on any of my grows. Cut back on N. Also make sure you have a good source of Calcium as plants in hydro dont have available calcium and its up to you to give them that.
I only use GH products like Koolbloom dry.
 
mr.smileyface

mr.smileyface

Well-Known Member
polishfalcon420 said:
I agree but I just cant see where I am using that much nitrogen in the first place myself. last mix was 10ml floranova bloom and 7ml koolbloom per gallon. the nova is a 4 8 7 npk value and the koolbloom is 0 10 10 that put me at about 1450ppm. it does look like the larger plant may have a very small calmag def if at all but it does have red petioles and fan leave stems starting on the larger main branches. Im not to sure if that goes with the strain or not. I upped the koolbloom last res change due to this and have not really noticed much of a difference and its budding like crazy. there both actually very healthy plants but Ive just been trying to figure out more on the ph dropping cause Ive had it happen in all of my successful grows so far and in a couple that didnt go so well. successful meaning 2 lsd plants under 1000w net 27oz dried 2 northern light pure gold crosses of mine 29oz dries bud there was a couple others like a lemon skunk and a querkle together under a 1000w lemon skunk hit 15oz and the querkle hit 10oz. but on the other hand Ive had 2 bubba kush under oe light and only hit 12oz total between the two but they were kinda messed up from the start and could never figure them out. so most of the time I achieve pretty good results. this ph thing is just kinda getting to me maybe it is just the norm in my setup as is why my buddies is doing the same thing. I just keep reading all over that a healthy hydro setup the ph should rise.
Click to expand...
Too much food. 1450? like come on. Thats why your ph is out of range. I would be doing 1150 max.
 
Serapis

Serapis

Well-Known Member
If your ppms are dropping, your plant is not using the same amount of water and nutes. If your ppms remain the same even though water level has decreased, then you are using equal amounts of nutrients and water. Maintaining ph on a flowering plant can be tricky. I can get my ph to 6 and in 24 hours, it is in the low 3's. This generally indicates that the plant has too much nitrogen, the opposite when the ph keeps going up. All you can do is to dial your ppms down a bit and find the happy medium, but when you do, the plants needs will just change again. :)

polishfalcon420 said:
that has crossed my mind. the plants usually use pretty close to an equal amount of nutes and water as the ppm usually drops. if the ppm's do rise its not by very much maybe 50ppm. right now my trainwrecks are drinking about 2-2.5g a day and maintaining a 1400ppm solution pretty well except for the ph thing after 3 or 4 days of it gradually rising and adjusting to get it back down to 5.5-5.8 all the sudden it crashes.when this happens if its not below 5 then I just add none adjusted solution with topoff and it will get it back up around 5.7 but the next day it usually dives below 5. up to this point I have always drained my nutes and started with a fresh batch but changing the solution every 4 days just seems like a waste and a pita sometimes. my common sense tells me that either the plants are draining the solution of a certain element or they are putting something back into it like nitrogen that would cause ph to drop vs the opposite of what it does when it drains it causing the ph to rise.
Click to expand...
 
Serapis

Serapis

Well-Known Member
Bubblelicious plants often require near 1600 ppm in mid flower. It depends on the strains, you can't just toss a ppm number out there like that. Pineapple Express seems to like it around 1200ppm. My Vanilla Kush, around 900 ppm.

mr.smileyface said:
Too much food. 1450? like come on. Thats why your ph is out of range. I would be doing 1150 max.
Click to expand...
 
mr.smileyface

mr.smileyface

Well-Known Member
Serapis said:
Bubblelicious plants often require near 1600 ppm in mid flower. It depends on the strains, you can't just toss a ppm number out there like that. Pineapple Express seems to like it around 1200ppm. My Vanilla Kush, around 900 ppm.
Click to expand...
Yea i know that. But with his problem i can. Its clearly the reason for the PH drop
 
Serapis

Serapis

Well-Known Member
I know why the ph dropped.... I'm stating you can't just pull a number out of thin air and say don't exceed that ppm.... we don't even know what strain he is growing....

The proper advice is to cut back on the ppms until the ph stabilizes.... 1150 might just be on target, but you are guessing, that is my point...

mr.smileyface said:
Yea i know that. But with his problem i can. Its clearly the reason for the PH drop
Click to expand...
 
C

can'tgetup

Member
I found Rhizotonic to help stabilize dropping ph when using Canna Auqua nutes. Used at .8-1.0 ml/gal, my ph went from dropping below 5.3 to a stable 6.2 in minutes. The last round I was changing reservoirs every time the ph became unstable (3-5 days). Now, by adding CalMg and Rizotonic as needed, I can extend my reservoirs up to 20 days with no issues. I would go longer but my nute schedule won't allow it right now.
 
C

can'tgetup

Member
Ppm has a direct relationship with salt content in the solution. You cannot use ppm to guide other users who use/have different base water and fertilizers. For example, I'm at 1150 ppm in veg w/ 1 week old clones (started as 2 nodes), no burn. But that doesn't work with my flower nutes even though they are all Canna. They are 2 different fertilizers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top